Hope and the Stoorworm
by QTXAdsy
Summary: A great monster is heading it's way to a distance kingdom. The people begin to panic that nothing can be done to stop this monster. However, their preyers are answered by the most unlikely source...AU


**Phew, happy to have this done. This story is in fact based on an ancient Scottish folk tale here in Scotland (The greatest place in the world if I do say so myself!) When reading the tale of the Stoorworm, The main character in it just reminded me strongly of Hope for some reason. Writing this was no fun, much like writing any fanfic is, but getting it done is always worth it in the end. Got to love them Scottish folk tales though, they were the original fanfics of the days! Proving that Fanfiction is nothing new! How about that? Scotland invented fanfiction (Or am I wrong?)! This is for the 'Crystal Heart's contest', I wonder if I'll do well, god knows if I will, But I fly the flag for Scotland nonetheless. Anyway all I can say is I hope (no pun there!) that this will be worth your time, as it took me like an age to get this thing done, and yes this has HopexLightning in it and a bit of SnowxSerah too, if you don't like those parings then bugger off then. So stop wasting your time reading this section, enjoy your reading! **

**UPDATE: After reading it through again, I decided to fix a few things to tidy it up better as much as I can. **

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**Hope and the Stoorworm **

Long ago in a far away land, there lived a farmer called Bartholomew Estheim. He had a wife called Nora and a son called Hope. His son though was not like many of the other boys that lived in the village. Instead of doing many tasks that would have been asked from many boys from his age, in fact, thanks to his mother, he had developed a skill of being a great storyteller. His stories were always all about him being the hero saving the princess from great monsters and living happily ever after. The boys of the village had no time for his stories and he would always be beaten up by them for wasting their time.

Tragically, his mother had passed away when he had only been fourteen. The impact of this had made Hope deeply depressed and many people in the village couldn't care less about him. He was sadly, the butt of many cruel jokes about him. Bartholomew was not much help either to him. He had been always a distanced man to his son, which had made Hope stay close to his mother the whole time. Though to be honest, he wasn't that cold for a dad, just busy the whole time working on the farm, never having anytime to spend with his son.

His farther though shortly afterwards had re-married. The person he had married was a strong warrior woman called Fang. She had a great cocky attitude about her and it made Hope wonder what his farther found in her which he wanted to marry her in the first place. To make matters worse for him, she had been one of the many people who made many jokes about the poor boy. She was defiantly not the type of mother figure he had hoped for. Mind you, she was helpful to Bartholomew on he farm.

However, the only one in the whole village who showed any kindness to him and was in many ways his only friend, was a happy, optimistic girl who was just a year older than him (he had just turned eighteen) called Vanille. Whenever they were free from doing anything, she would always love to hear Hope tell her his many heroic stories. He had met her when he was sixteen, and now that she was nineteen, she was sent into service as a maid in the king's household.

Poor Hope was left without a friend. With no one to tell his stories to, Hope took to running wild round the countryside everyday in his now filthy clothes telling his stories to the wind, the only chance it seemed he was ever going make it through his tales without getting a beating from anyone from wasting their time.

**XXX**

Far out in the great ocean, there lived a great, terrible sea serpent, which many believed to be the most fearsome creature to live on the face of this world, it known as the Stoorworm. It had been found out from many sailing ships that the Stoorworm was drawing near the land, and this news made the boldest heart beat faster. And, truly, the Stoorworm came, and set up his head to the land. The monster turned its awful mouth landward, and yawned horridly. So that when its great jaws came together, they made a noise that shook the landscape and the sea.

How was one supposed to describe this terrible monster? It was so large that just even describing how long it was, even if you knew the exact size of this serpent, it would be unbelievable to anyone. Now, you must know that this was the largest, the first, and the father of all the Stoorworms, great serpents of the sea they were. Therefore it was well named the 'Mester Stoorworm'.

With his venomous breath, it could kill every living creature on which it fell, and could wither up everything that grew. Its massive long fork tongue could be used to whip clean the land including animals, people and even villages. Its tongue was so powerful that it could break down the mightiest stone fortress like if it was like made of paper. Fear fell on every heart, and there was lamentation in the land.

When the terrible news came to the king. He knew that unless the serpent was stopped, his great kingdom would lie in ruins before long and his people would disappear forever. The great king was now into his twilight years, his black hair was now all grey but his watery blue eyes still had great passion in them.

The king had called an emergency council to what could be done, but there was not a man present who could think of a plan that might stop the Stoorworm from coming. But would could be done to stop it? There was no weapon that cold be used against it.

Even as the council sat for three nights and days, they still could find no solution to stop the great serpent from coming. Completely exhausted from the events, the main leader of the council had left the council to speak to the king. This man was known as Sazh. Being the leader of the council, he was dressed in a long golden colored robe with many white patterns on it. He found the king looking out on top of the battlements looking out at his vast kingdom, which secretly he thought would be changed forever if the Stoorworm made it onto land.

"My king," Sazh bowed. The king turned to look at him, possibly hoping that the council might of agreed on something. "Well?" asked the king.

"It's…it's useless to pit such strength of men against it." Sazh lowered his head in sadness. The old king glared at him. "And after giving you and your men my great hall to discuss what to do, you still can't think of anything!"

"There is one way," said a feminine voice nearby. The king and Sazh looked to their left to see the Queen coming towards them. The Queen was, even after being married to her husband for fifty years, still very beautiful. Unlike her husband whose hair had now become grey haired, she still had most of her unique pink hair still, though there were signs that it was started to make way for the grey hairs.

"No number of knights can be great enough to compete against it."

The king stared at her. "What do you propose?" He asked.

"You must consult the great sorcerer," she answered. "To find some form of magic that will defeat the monster."

Sazh nearly coughed in shock. "The sorcerer?" He gasped. "That old man has done nothing to help us at all! M'lord, you can't-"

"We have no other choice," interrupted the king. "I want him brought forth in front of the council by dusk so that he can tell us what could be done."

Sazh just looked at him dumbfounded, but he had his orders.

"Yes, M'lord." And with that, the councilman left to leave the king and queen alone.

Although the king had made his choice, he had made it great reluctance. He had to agree with Sazh, the old sorcerer was deceitful and that his tricks were useless. But he could think of no better solution to make, and the great hulk of the Stoorworm was already visible, lying in wait in the icy blue-grey waters in the cove.

**XXX**

The next day, Sazh brought forth the old sorcerer before the king and the council. However, some members of the council were a tad bit suspicious about the old man. The sorcerer was wizened and gnarled, with a long matted beard and wispy grey.

_"This man looks old, worn and useless,"_ thought the king. But still he asked for the sorcerer's advice nonetheless, and the sorcerer promised to have an answer by morning.

When the sorcerer returned, the news was grim. The only way to keep the giant sea serpent from devastating the land was to feed it with seven virgins every Saturday. It was a terrible sacrifice for the people to make, but it was the only thing that might satisfy the monster's appetite until it decided to leave.

If that failed, the sorcerer said, then they would be left with only one alternative, which that was too terrible to think about. So the king and his council agreed to it. Seven virgins would be taken to the rocks by the shore, then left to the mercies of the Stoorworm. The screams of the first seven sacrifices, as they waited for the horrific tongue of the Stoorworm to sweep them into its monstrous mouth, almost tore the hearts out of those who could hear.

Even on the next appointed day, the screams were even worse. For they had seen the fate of the first ones and knew what would happen. People from all over the kingdom would gather a safe distance away high on a hillside to catch a glimpse of the hellish serpent. The sight of the Stoorworm devouring its prey made the blood of everyone there turn to ice. In that crowd, Fang and Hope watched, and for once, Fang seemed rather scared.

"Bloody 'ell," she slightly gasped at the sight of the monster before looking at Hope. "I don't want to end up like them, I'll have to try and convince your dad to help start popping kids out so I don't have to end up like them down there." Of course, Fang was a virgin herself and the thought of being one of the poor maidens down there was a terrifying thought for her.

"I'm not scared of the monster," Hope replied confidently.

Fang raised an eyebrow at him. "Not scared? Why?" Fang asked.

"I would gladly fight the monster myself and would win." The boys from the village, who had also come along to watch the Stoorworm, heard of Hope's careless words and punched and kicked him down the hillside calling him a lying braggart.

Fang just watched the fight, chuckling at how Hope's bluff got himself a beating. She did nothing to help him. After the boys had finished with him, they left him lying in a heap with various brushes on his face. Fang knelt down at him shaking her head at him.

"Well sunshine," she chuckled. "If you say you're strong enough to fight the Stoorworm, why couldn't you fight those boys then? If I were you, I'd fight them myself."

Hope just looked at her with a determined look on his face. "I would fight them back," he replied. "But I have to save my strength to fight the Stoorworm!" Fang just laughed at him. _"Stupid boy,"_ she thought. "Keep dreaming, son." She laughed as she sat up and left him lying there. As crazy as it may have sounded, he seemed to be the only one in the kingdom that wasn't scared of the monster.

**XXX**

Many weeks passed and people started to grow desperate. How many more families would have to mourn the loss of their fairest maidens? Would the monster ever have had its fill? Every week they hoped that the Stoorworm would turn and leave, but every week, the snapping of it's great jaws sent great waves crashing against the shore to tell them that its appetite was still unsatisfied.

Many people began to question the sorcerer's wisdom and asked the King to form another council. The council was gathered and the sorcerer summoned once again. Though he seemed weaker and more wizened than ever.

"To many young woman have died," the King said to him. "And yet the monster is as hungry as ever, and we see no sign of it going. You told us there was an alternative, tell us what it is, no matter how unthinkable it might be."

The sorcerer raised himself up to his full height. "If the monster is not satisfied with the fairest of maidens from all over the kingdom," he spoke softly. "Then it is with great sorrow that the monster wants royal blood. The king's two daughters must be given in sacrifice, or we will see our land devoured, acre by acre, by the Stoorworm."

The council gasped in shock at his words. Surely the king wouldn't go through with this. The king sat there is shock while the council continued to talk loudly among themselves thinking that this would be too much. The king raised his hand for silence, which the council did as expected.

The king had made his choice. He rose from his seat, tears in his eyes, and addressed the council.

"This is a cruel decision to make," he said, his voice croaking, "For everyone knows, there is no-one whom I hold more dear to me in all this world than my two beautiful daughters. But I know that it is my duty as a king to do whatever must be done to save my kingdom and the lives of my people, and therefore, if this be the choice of the council, I give my consent for them to be fed for the monster."

The men of the council could not raise their heads to look at the sorrowing king as one by one, they raised their hands in consent. All of them were silent, all except one. Sazh. He rose up from his seat and spoke out defiantly, with anger in his voice.

"If this is will of the majority, I must go along with it, but I beg to add one condition to our decision. This sorcerer has spoken before and on his advice, many fair maidens have perished, and if the monster does not depart after the two princesses are sacrificed, then I want the sorcerer to be next to die!"

His words were met with a roar of approval from the assembled company there. Unknown to those in the great hall, two young women had been listening to the events of what had been taken place. They had heard everything. They were Claire and Serah.

**XXX**

That night in Claire's bedroom, the two princesses tried to comfort each other for what they had heard. Serah sobbed in her older sister's embrace. Her older sister was feeling a bit different though.

Unlike most princesses that had ever lived in this vast kingdom for many years, Claire had always dreamed of being like a knight. She herself wished she could personally fight the great Stoorworm herself if she'd have the chance. Because of this, she had wanted to have another identify which she had given herself another name, which all citizens in the land knew her by, Lightning.

Unlike her sister who was always cheerful, she was always quite cold and distanced from many people. Because of this, many people wondered how they were related, though the fact that they were both very beautiful and had the same hair color placed these doubts to rest. Lightning though was always there to comfort those when it was most needed, and this being one of these moments.

"Claire," sobbed Serah as she looked up at her. "I…I don't want to die." Lightning looked at her younger sister with one of her rare small smiles.

"Don't be," she assured, "once we are sacrificed and the Stoorworm leaves our land, people will remember us for what we did in many years to come. We'll be heroines to the kingdom."

Serah sobbing quieting down a bit and rubbed some of her tears away from her face. "Are you sure?" Asked Serah. "But what if it doesn't?"

"It will leave," Lightning reassured. Though to be honest, she wasn't quite so sure herself.

Just then, there was a knock on the door. "Yes?" Asked Lightning, her attention now looking at the door. The door opened to show a young red-haired maid standing in the doorframe. Vanille.

"Your majesties," Vanille began taking a small courtesy. "The king has asked you two to meet him in the royal chambers."

Lightning nodded. "Very well then, tell him we'll come."

Vanille smiled a bit. "Yes your majesties, I'll tell him." And with that, she gave another courtesy before heading back to the king. The reason why the king wanted to see them was not about their fate, but that he had a plan to save them.

**XXX**

The king only had a few days in which to try and save the princesses. He sent out messengers out to the farthest corners of the land, to find heroes who might be willing to try and repel the beast. As a reward, he promised the hand of Lightning in marriage, half of his kingdom and to become the new king and gain the rest of the kingdom once the king himself passed away.

To many of the knights, this opportunity was far to good to resist.

Every young man in the land adored Lightning, and the fact that the one who was to win against the monster would marry her was almost a dream come true. The same went for Hope. Ever since he first saw her about a few years ago when she was passing through the village in a Chocobo drawn carriage back to the palace, his heart had been struck still at just the sight of her. Yet he knew it was impossible to have her, but the thought of taking her as his bride if he could defeat the Stoorworm was his great opportunity.

At dinnertime, he proudly said to his farther and Fang that he was going out to slay the serpent and win Lightning over as his wife. This unfortunately had met with a roar of laughter. They thought he surely didn't have a chance to stand up to the Stoorworm, let alone win the princess over. Though actually, he did have a chance.

When thirty-six brave knights arrived, none of them had actually seen the Stoorworm yet, and as soon as they did, two thirds of them retreated at first sight and ran back to where they came from. The remaining few took shelter at the palace, trying in vain to summon the courage to confront the beast.

Things didn't get any better as the days went by. Many of them left saying that there was no hope to stop it. Though the night before the princesses were to be taken to the Stoorworm, one knight did stay behind, but he wasn't there just to have Lightning, he was there to have the younger princess, Serah. This man was known as Sir Villers, but he just liked being called by his name of Snow.

He was quite a giant of a man when he was standing with all the other knights, but unlike them, he had now the courage to stand up to the monster, though perhaps not the strength.

The king had kindly gave him supper, but had went up to his bedroom weeping while the moon went down, counting down to morning. This was the night before his two precious daughters would be sent to the great monster. Possibly everyone in the land felt the same way as the old king was feeling. He could hear the splashes of great waves that smashed in the shore as it snapped its jaws in anticipation. The king knew that Snow would fail.

While he looked into blank space at the wall, Snow came in to try and give the sad king some company. It was only the best the knight could do before they would have to witness the deaths of the princesses. At that moment as well, the king rose from the bed he had been sitting on and opened a great chest that was lying in the corner of the room. It was where all his precious things were kept. The king took out his great sword, Sickersnapper.

"Why take out Sickersnapper?" asked Snow. "My lord, your day for fighting is gone. Let Sickersnapper lie, my good lord, your too old to wield her now."

The king glared at him. "Or I'll try my strength on my body. Think that I would step aside to see my daughters devoured by a monster and not strike a blow for my own flesh and blood? I tell you, and with my thumbs crossed on the edge of Sickersnapper I swear it. That this good sword and I shall perish before my daughters die. Yes, dear Sickersnapper! I will draw blood from the Stoorworm before this monster tastes the blood of a Farron."

He placed a hand on Snow's shoulder. "And now brave Sir Villers, Meet up with my main boats-master, head to the shore and prepare my boat, with mast up, and sail ready to hoist, and with its bow seaward. And guard it till I come. It is the last service that anyone will do for me."

Snow was silent. The king was going to do anything to save Lightning and Serah.

"Yes, M'lord." And with that, he left to head down to the shore.

**XXX**

That night back at the farm, Hope was lying by the side of the fire dully watching the fire go out very slowly. He didn't know why, he had always found it comfortable while watching fire burn out in the fire place. During this, he could hear his parents were in bed arguing in the room next to him. Hope's ears perked up, that wasn't right. Normally they would fast asleep at this time. Quietly, he walked up to his parent's door and looked through a small gap in the door.

"Well, tomorrow the princesses are going to be fed to the Stoorworm," Came Bartholomew. "We should go and take my Chocobo, Tickgo, the fastest Chocobo in the land, and we can go and watch the event".

"Mm, yeah," muttered Fang.

"What's wrong with you?" Asked her husband.

Fang just sighed. "Well, I have to know," she said, "You've got secrets".

Her husband looked at her dumbstruck. "I don't have any secrets!" He snapped, "What secrets do I have?"

"Well," she began. "That Chocobo of yours, Tickgo…"

"Yeah, the fastest Chocobo in the land," he replied.

"Exactly" she replied. "Well, there's something that you do that makes that Chocobo go fast, what is it?"

"...Oh, you don't need to know that," answered Bartholomew rather quickly to try and 'hush' the talk up.

"Why not?" Fang snorted looking at him.

"Well," her husband replied, "It's a kind of a sort of…it's a secret."

"Exactly!" She explained and pointed a finger at him. "And if you've got one secret from your dear ol' wife, then you might have others as well!"

"Oh, I don't have any secrets from you my dear."

So they argued back and forth like that for a while and eventually Bartholomew realized that Fang wasn't going to give up so easily. He finally gave up.

"Okay I'll tell you," he began, "When I want the Chocobo to go to a standstill, I give it a pat on the left shoulder. When I want it to run fast, I give it a pat on the right shoulder but when I want it to run as fast as the wind I blow through a goose's trapple. That's the windpipe of a goose," He added. "I always keep one in my jacket pocket for emergencies."

So when Fang heard this, she was happy to hear a secret from her husband. Soon enough, the pair of them were snoring away sound asleep. However, Hope had heard and seen everything.

**XXX**

Without them knowing it, he opened the door very slowly, thankfully it didn't creak like most doors did. After this, he crept past his snoring parents, how did they sleep at night? The goose's windpipe was lying at his father's side. Hope picked it up and tiptoed out of the room. Though thankfully, Fang's snoring managed to drown out any sounds that Hope might make. He tiptoed out of the house and into the stable and saddled his father's Chocobo.

He tied the pot of smoldering peat to the back of the saddle, then mounted the Chocobo and tapped it gently on the haunch once with his right foot. The Chocobo stood stock-still. Hope tapped once with his left foot, and the Chocobo let out a whinny and began to canter.

His parents were both awoken by the sound of the Chocobo's feet when it came running into the yard. When Bartholomew saw his son disappearing in the distance with his precious Chocobo, he let out a roar of fury and started to run out of the house and try and stop Hope. But Hope did not turn around.

He lifted the goose's windpipe to his lips and blew into it long and hard. The Chocobo kicked up its heels and Hope clung onto dear life. They galloped off into the night at tremendous speed, leaving his farther far into the distance impotent with rage and disappointment.

Hope soon settled into the Chocobo's rhythm as they carried on their journey to the cove. It ran swiftly, but smoothly. It was quick to response to Hope's commands and at the slightest touch of its reins; it would change direction wherever he wanted it to go.

It did not take long them to reach the shore. When they got there, Hope dismounted and carried with him the pot of smouldering peat with him. He walked onto the narrow strip of sand beside the water and began to gather driftwood, heaping it into a great pile at the water's edge. While Hope did this, near the shoreline, Hope could see Snow keeping vigil at the king's boat. The boat's sails were unfurled and at the ready, and it's prow was pointing seawards, towards the rumbling black island, which was the sleeping monster's head.

Hope set light to the pile of driftwood with the smoldering peat. He waited until the fire was blazing brightly, and once it did, he then walked up to the tall knight.

"Hello," called Hope. "Come and warm yourself by the flames, why spend the night out here alone in the cold and dark?"

Snow looked at the young man and rubbed his hands trying to keep warm. The fact was that the tall knight had been out here all night in the freezing cold and would've of loved to sit at Hope's bonfire. But he would not desert his post, especially that the boat master had ran off when he saw the great monster.

"I would though," Snow replied shivering. "I won't leave this post until the king arrives." Hope rubbed his chin in thought.

"Very well," said Hope, pretending that it didn't matter. "But tell me, what is your name great Knight?"

"Sir Villers," replied Snow shaking Hope's hand. "But I just prefer being called Snow, what's yours?"

"Hope, Hope Estheim," the young man replied.

"'Hope', eh?" asked Snow, "Very fitting name for the event."

Hope gave a small smile at the large man. "Even if you're the only knight here, you deserve some kind of reward for standing up to the beast."

Snow gave him a small smile.

"Well you see," the knight, replied, "I ain't here for Lightning as my bride."

Hope looked at him surprised. "Then what?"

"I came to marry her younger sister," answered Snow. Hope couldn't believe it. Almost every knight in the kingdom adored the older princess, but he had never known anyone talk about Serah. Hope did know one boy in the village talk about her once, other from that, that was all he could remember.

"What does the king think about this?" Asked Hope.

"Haven't said anything yet," Snow replied while rubbing his hands together trying to warm up. "You won't believe why the king wants his boat out here too."

"...Why?" Hope asked, he had been wondering why such a vessel had been out here at this time.

"Well," Snow began. "The king wants to fight the damn creature!"

Hope gasped when he heard this. "But is the king-"

"My thoughts exactly," Snow interrupted him. "Guess we'll see no more kings, queens, prince and princesses again after this, if there is a land here after this."

The two of them talked for about a few minutes like where they had come from and what they both wanted to do after this was all over. Once they had finished, Hope went back to his bonfire. Although Snow said that it was his duty to guard the boat before the king came, Hope knew that every man has a weakness. Using a stick, he scraped a few lines in the sand around the bonfire.

Then he bended over and exclaimed as if he had found something.

"Gold!" he cried out. "There's gold all here under my stick!" Within moments, Snow ran up to Hope, knocking him out of the way, and began digging like a dog to find the 'gold'. Hope didn't waste a minute. He took the pot of smoldering peat and ran onto the boat and raised the sails. Then taking the helm, he steered it back out to sea towards the Stoorworm's great head.

Dawn was breaking as he headed closer to the great head in the water. And as he reached the great monstrous head of this beast, the sun appeared above the horizon and the first rays of the sun kissed the Stoorworm's eyes.

As it started to wake up, The Stoorworm gave out a great yawn. Hope positioned the boat in front of the mouth so that when he yawned again for a second time, he was swept into the open mouth on the great cascade of water that ran into the monster's mouth. In its mouth, down its throat, down, down deeper and deeper into the Stoorworm's stomach.

Now the inside of the monster was like a great long tunnel and every now and again there was a small tunnel ran off down here, and another one ran off down that way, and some of the water went running off down there and some went gurgling off down there. The boat continued to move along until the water got shallower, and shallower. And the boat grounded.

Now the inside of the Stoorworm glowed with a soft green phosphorescent glow. With this, Hope could see what he was doing. He took his pot of peat in it and he ran, and he ran, and kept on running worrying that he might of gotten himself lost, that was until he found what he was looking for, the Stoorworm's liver.

Now you know how much oil there is in fish livers, imagine the amount of oil in a Stoorworm's liver, it would be almost too much to describe!

Without wasting a second, Hope got out his knife and cut a hole in the liver of the monster. He placed the glowing peat inside it. He blew, and he blew, and he blew some more. Then just as he hoped, the oil caught fire and spluttered into flames. Wasting no time, he ran back to the boat.

When the Stoorworm felt the heat of the fire in its inside, the monster began to spew as if it would have brought up the bottom of its bowels. Then there arose from its huge stomach, terrible floods that could of flooded the land. One of these floods caught the boat, it snapped the boat's mast like a twig, and flung the boat and Hope near the shoreline, which Hope began frantically swimming onto dry land.

At this point, the king had arrived when Hope had ventured inside the Stoorworm and was shocked to find Snow digging away for the 'gold', which at this point, Snow had figured out that he had been tricked. Not to mention that the king, the princesses and his men were not happy when Snow had failed to guard the boat.

But that wasn't the subject right now. They all were wondering what the Stoorworm was doing. Hope had landed nearby them and walked up, quite shaken, to the king and his group. The monster's loud painful groans caught the attention of everyone in the area. All wondering what was going on, many ran from their houses and watched the Stoorworm...dying.

Smoke billowed out through the Stoorworm's nostrils and mouth as it raised its massive thick body high up into the clouds. The amount of smoke coming out was now starting to block the sun out. In a last attempt, the Stoorworm opened its great mouth roaring in pain and shooting out its long fork tongue into the sky. It went so far, that it could have almost reached the moon.

Then the monster let its tongue fall down to the ground with a thundering crash. The land beneath it shattered and divided, and the seawater flowed in from both sides, making a passage between the two segments of land. The monster raised its head and seemed to retreat from the cove it was in, but it didn't get very far only getting out towards the horizon (well it not quite far for something it's size.)

The great beast then curled up itself round and round into a large coil before it finally sank slowly below the deep waters. The Stoorworm, was defeated.

Well, the people who came to watch what was going on cheered in triumph. Some people had tears of joys, others were praying to the Gods above thanking them for sparing their lives. The king himself was overcome with joy at this. He took Hope in his arms and he called him his son.

"My boy," he wept in delight, "you have saved the kingdom. My sword Sickersnapper is yours as indeed is half my kingdom and my daughter, if she will have you."

At those words, Lightning walked up to the young man and inspect this unexpected hero. Despite his scurfy appearance and dripping wet, he still had a handsome appearance about him. But Lightning thought differently. She turned around and left the group. The king, Serah and the guards were all silent in shock. After what Hope had done, did he really deserve that from the elder princess?

**XXX**

Lightning had to decide whenever she should marry the young man or not. Thankfully, the king had gave her time to think about it. She had taken about two days so far to think about it after the Stoorworm was defeated, but after what Hope had done to defeat such a monstrous creature, did she really deserve him?

Of course, he wasn't the knight in shining armour she had expected. Both Serah and Vanille tried as much as they could to assure her that it was the right thing to do to marry him.

"Please, Claire," Serah pleaded with her. "Please accept his hand in marriage."

"What will it benefit?" replied Lightning as she sat on her bed. "He's a few years younger than me, it's...it's just not right. Plus the fact that he isn't a knight after all, let alone some foreign prince."

"You will change his life for the better if do accept him," spoke Vanille.

Lightning was silent for a moment as she looked at the maid. "What do you mean?" Asked the older princess.

Vanille thought about what she was going to say to her for a moment, then began. "I've know Hope before."

Serah and Lightning's eyes widened, then they starred at each other, then starred back at the maid. "What was he like do you remember?" Asked Serah.

"A wonderful person, but he had a sad life," Vanille sighed. "He was always making these great stories which I remember so well, always making himself the hero of the story. Funny how it all came true with the Stoorworm in the end."

Vanille paused for a moment before continuing.

"He had gained this skill from his mother, he always spoke fondly of his mother I remember. Sadly she died when he had only been fourteen. His farther had never anytime for him as he would always be busy on the farm. About sometime later, His farther married a person called Fang. But sadly she was never like the mother he had hoped for."

Serah's head slightly lowered when she heard this.

"He tried to make friends, but they would just beat him up due to the fact that they couldn't stand his stories. I was, you can say, his only friend."

Lightning sighed sadly, herself lowering her head.

"Please, your highness," Vanille added. "Do this to make his life happy, do this to make your own life happy. Please!"

There was a long silence in the room that followed. Lightning couldn't think of what to do. If she didn't want Hope as her husband, then he'd go back to a life of sadness to where he came from for the rest of his days. Though if she accepted him, life would be...actually wonderful for the both of them. Still the age gap bothered her a bit though. Whatever she thought, she had to make a decision now. So with that, she rose up and looked at the maid.

"Vanille," the elder princess spoke to the maid. "I want you to tell the king this..."

**XXX**

A great celebration had been organised, but it wasn't for the defeat of the Stoorworm, It had been for a grand wedding. Yes, Lightning had accepted Hope as her husband. When she announced this, the news had spread like wildfire all over the kingdom.

At the wedding, it seemed that half the kingdom had turned up, and the rest had turned up anyway (mostly for the drinks!) to see this young person who had triumphed against the great serpent. Hope had saved both of Lightning and Serah's lives after all, and had spared the whole kingdom from a terrible fate.

With this, Hope moved from his sad life living with Bartholomew and Fang, and moved on to a new life of happiness with his beautiful bride.

He was of course reunited with Vanille, who became the chief lady-in-waiting to the young royal couple, Lightning soon released how much of a wonderful person Hope was. The knight, Snow, had decided to leave the palace to head back to his home, feeling saddened that he never had the chance to marry the younger Farron Princess. Though Hope's own kindness had prevented him from going for a reason.

With Snow being the last of the knights there and his longing to be with Serah, Hope decided to let Snow marry the younger Farron sister. The king was a bit hesitant at first for this knight to marry Serah, but after much pressure from Hope, and amazingly Lightning (she had before hand been unsure herself about Snow), the king finally agreed. From then on, Snow was to become Hope and Lightning's main knight. Also, he would then thank Hope every time he met him for allowing to marry Serah.

Even Hope's farther and Fang had become more humble since the day of his great deed, incredibly, Hope forgave them. This proving that Hope didn't have a bad bone in his body it seemed. A few weeks later after the wedding, at a special meeting of the king's council, a vote was passed to send the sorcerer into exile, and from then on, the king paid no heed to his foolish wife's advice for anything.

As the years passed, Hope turned into a handsome hero overtime, unrecognisable as the scrawny lad he had once been. But there was still one thing he still had when he was a lad, he still loved to invent stories, and in his wife, he found an interested audience.

As the two of them lay in bed together at night, Lightning would lay her head on Hope's shoulder and listen to his soft voice bring the monsters, giants and heroic deeds in his imagination to life. He (and possibly even Lightning) had found happiness at last, and it was well deserved.

And when the old king eventually passed away peacefully in his sleep on a warm summer's morning seven years after the Stoorworm was defeated, as he wished, the rest of his kingdom went to the man who had saved them all. The people of the kingdom could not think of a better man to succeed him than brave, noble Hope Estheim.

* * *

**Erm, yeah. That's it. This is the last FFXIII story I'll be doing for a while as I want to start/finish off other stories that I have on. I'am allowing anyone to do any fanart for this if you liked this silly tale. Though I would like you though to link this story to your artwork so that those who haven't read this story, can read it themselves. So please Review, I like to know that there are people who did read this and tell me what you think about it. Until next time, a fond farewell. **


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